


why do you care for me?

by WhyDontWeBegin



Series: Born of Light, Bathed in Shadow [9]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Comfort, Comfort No Hurt, F/M, Fluff, How Do I Tag, Multiple Personalities, Viera Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), me? write pure comfort? more likely than you think, no beta we just die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:34:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22274146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhyDontWeBegin/pseuds/WhyDontWeBegin
Summary: X'rhun speaks with her darkness.
Relationships: X'rhun Tia/Original Character(s), X'rhun Tia/Warrior of Light
Series: Born of Light, Bathed in Shadow [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1576069
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	why do you care for me?

**Author's Note:**

> iiiii wrote this because I'm honestly feeling kinda bad lately and what better way to handle it than this? :)   
> welcome back to "X'rhun is the only smart person in this relationship" I guess, whatever that says about it

X’rhun carded his fingers through Emlyn’s hair. She was curled against his side, their legs tangled together, her head pillowed on his chest. His tail had curled around her waist, and he had one arm around her shoulders. One of hers was thrown over his torso. She was sound asleep there, and X’rhun was thankful. He could see the bags under her eyes, the lack of color to her skin, the slightest shake to her hands when she came to him.

X’rhun closed his eyes and let his hand come to a stop, resting in fluffy platinum locks. Emlyn’s hair wasn’t particularly soft, really, but it had a natural fluffiness that left it looking uncombed most of the time. When it was short, anyways. He loved that. (He loved everything about her, really. Derin included.)

It was the little things, he’d noticed, that were appreciated the most. It was the little things that could signal who he was speaking to, because now that Emlyn and Derin had found a balance rather than being at odds, it had grown less and less uncommon for the latter to show over the former.Like now, with the way she shifted and looked at him, both eyes half-lidded where Emlyn would’ve only had one opened. X’rhun hummed inquisitively.

“Yer too bloody nice,” Derin mumbled, giving him a flat stare. He only raised a brow, earning a huff. “Acceptin’- acceptin’ _me_. ‘Ow stupid are ye?”

“You do realize you’re just as much a part of Emlyn as Emlyn is a part of _you_ , I hope,” X’rhun murmured,cupping her cheek. “Accepting one half and then rejecting the other... t’would simply return you to your previous cycle of imbalance. Where there is light, there is darkness, my dear- in your case, it is merely that the darkness has a mind all her own.”

Derin looked away. It was a rare day that she ever admitted weakness, even to her lighter half. Her better half. How long had she been pulling Emlyn down, now, into the dark? Since their childhood? It was Derin’s fault that Emlyn had abandoned her home, her people, and her name. Derin’s fault that people had called her a monster. Derin’s fault that Emlyn had nightmares of the people _she_ had killed. And now-

“Derin,” X’rhun began, cutting off her thoughts, “the two of you are one in the same, two sides to a single coin. You each need the other to balance out. Do you know what would happen, were you to exist separately?”

Derin frowned. Emlyn...

Emlyn would get herself killed helping others, she realized. X’rhun had come to the same conclusion, based on his own expression.

“Ye don’ u-“

“No, I don’t quite understand. But I _don’t need to_. You care about her,” he said, and it wasn’t a question. “And she cares about _you_. We all make mistakes, Derin.”

“I ruined ‘er life.”

“But you didn’t mean to.”

“... No.”

X’rhun gave a soft sigh and closed his eyes. “Then you made a mistake.”

“I don’ think Emlyn woul’ agree.”

“And I think you don’t understand her as well as you believe. You aren’t the only one to talk to me while the other is unaware.”

Derin abruptly pushed herself up on her forearms to stare at him, searching his eyes and finding nothing but honesty and concern and- gods grant her strength- _love_.

“... Ye really think?...”

“I don’t think, Derin. I _know_ ,” X’rhun murmured, tracing his fingers over the tattoo on her face. (A story of their crimes and sins, there for all to see but none to understand save herself and Emlyn. Not even X’rhun knew that. Some things, they had agreed, ought to stay between them and them alone.) His other hand played across the scar on her right shoulder. It was a long, ugly thing, going from her shoulder to her back. Thinking on it, the cause had been shrapnel from an explosion.

She hadn’t realized how long she’d been quiet until X’rhun pulled her down to press his forehead to hers. “Focus on me, Derin. Like I told Emlyn: the deeds of your past do not change the deeds of your present. Nothing she has done was without you standing behind her. Perhaps she is a pillar for the Scions, but _you_ are a pillar of strength for _her_.”

“I…”

“No. You each doubt your worth, and I hate watching it. There is but one thing I would ask of either of you, and that is only that you heed my words. I daresay I know you two better than you know each other, at this point.”

Derin had no words, sitting up, away from his searching gaze. She heard a shift, the creak of the mattress, and then there were hands on her hips as she was guided to straddle X’rhun’s lap. But there was nothing she was familiar with in the action- it was innocent, completely and utterly innocent in every way. Derin found that no matter how she wanted to, she could no longer look away. His intensity was something else.

Again, she could only find honesty, concern, and a deep love Derin couldn’t _begin_ to understand in the blue depths of his eyes. It made her want to run. It made her want to stay.

“Derin,” X’rhun said, and his voice was so soft. So gentle it hurt to hear, it made her heart ache to know he cared so much about a- a _monster_ like herself. Because Emlyn wasn’t the monster, it was Derin, and her better half was the one made to suffer the consequences. X’rhun leaned forward, his hands trailing up, touches featherlight and gentle. Derin could feel the callouses as he mapped her- Emlyn’s- scars as though he hadn’t done so a thousand times before.

X’rhun leaned forward, pressing his face into her collarbone, his breath warm against her skin. Once, anyone would’ve regretted trusting her this much. But X’rhun Tia was not just anyone, and those days had passed. He handled her like glass, as though Derin would shatter if he pressed, though he knew better. Oh, X’rhun knew how dangerous Emlyn and Derin both were. Emlyn had eyes like a hawk, an aim that was not to be underestimated. And he’d watched Derin kill men and beasts alike with her bare hands, no matter how much armor they wore. The woman before him was as beautiful as she was dangerous, and she certainly was not delicate.

That was the very reason he handled Emlyn so carefully, but with Derin, it was more than that. Gentle touches were something she was unaccustomed to, X’rhun knew, and that was reason enough.

“Wh-“

“I love you.”

Silence. X’rhun felt her stiffen under his hands, but he didn’t pause. He already knew her answer.

Derin heard her heartbeat pounding in her ears, but it was distant. Overruled by X’rhun’s words. He- he’d gone and said it, to her, to Derin, and only Derin. Emlyn was nothing short of dead to the world. He knew it. He knew it and he said it anyway. Her mouth went dry, and she still felt his hands on her skin, wandering aimlessly at this point. His hair tickled her jaw, and his ear flicked idly against her cheek. Derin bit her lip, hands twitching before she brought them up to rest on his chest, his skin warm under her hands. “I… I love you, too, Rhun.”

X’rhun smiled. He’d already known, of course, because Emlyn had told him. She often spoke for her other half. But for Derin to admit it on her own was something else, and he wrapped his arms around her. Pulled her close, heart fluttering. X’rhun hadn’t expected her to call him by _name_ , either.

Derin did not speak of the deep, rumbling purr that he made as he pulled her back to lay down, and he did not speak of the way she clung to him.

**Author's Note:**

> for those who're slightly confused, DRK 50 cryptic spoilers beware: Derin is to Emlyn... Fray.


End file.
